The Citadelle Art Museum

06/02/2026

Texas K-12 teachers, save the date.

Long before screens, illustrators sold the world an entire era. They gave Art Deco its glamour, its speed, its sense that something new was on the way.
Here is something worth knowing: The Citadelle holds three works by J.C. Leyendecker, one of the great illustrators of the Art Deco period, along with a painting by his mentee, Norman Rockwell. Teachers attending this PD will see these works up close.

On July 8, we are hosting Art Deco Through the Eyes of an Illustrator, a professional development morning that traces how innovation, design, advertising, and consumer culture grew up together between WWI and WWII. Teachers will leave with interdisciplinary lesson ideas built for vertical adjustment within the content area, ready to use in art, social studies, ELA, and CTE classrooms.

Open to every K-12 grade level and every discipline. Light breakfast at 8:30. Program runs 8:45 to 11:30. Certificate of Completion provided for PD hours.
$20 ticket. The Gallery at The Citadelle Art Museum, 520 Nelson Ave, Canadian, TX. Park at Canadian MS and use our back entrance across Wash*ta Ave.

Register and purchase tickets. Visit https://thecitadelle.org/events-calendar/

Visit, discover and experience The Citadelle Art Museum any time of year. Located in Canadian, Texas, just a short drive from Amarillo.

05/31/2026

Chelsie Nicole Murfee, award-winning portrait artist, recognized by the European Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona, is coming to The Citadelle June 11–14 to lead a four-day adult portrait drawing workshop.

Four days of focused instruction in form, light, proportion, and presence, inside a working museum, from an artist whose drawings are hanging on our walls right now.

Don't wait on this one - only a few spots left!

June 11–14, 2026
Registration: $625
bit.ly/Citadelle_PortraitDrawing

05/30/2026

Texas K-12 teachers, this one is for you.

Some subjects ask more of a teacher than others. The Holocaust is one of them.

On June 19, we are hosting "Holocaust Stories: Survivors' Voices," a professional development morning built around one question: how do we teach the weight of this history in a way young people can carry?

The session draws on the work of internationally celebrated painter David Kassan, whose portraits of Holocaust survivors are built through research, interviews, and painting. His approach offers teachers a model for helping students engage with difficult history honestly and meaningfully.

You will leave with lesson ideas that are interdisciplinary and ready for vertical adjustment within your content area. Open to every K-12 grade level and every discipline. Certificate of Completion provided for PD hours.

June 19, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. The Gallery at The Citadelle Art Museum, 520 Nelson Ave, Canadian, TX. $20 ticket includes a light breakfast and coffee. Park at Canadian MS and enter through our back entrance across Wash*ta Ave.

Register and purchase tickets at https://thecitadelle.org/events-calendar/

Professional development for Texas K-12 teachers. Explore new ways to teach the Holocaust through visual art and survivor stories.

05/29/2026

A church built in 1910, a family home filled with art for decades, a museum that opened its doors to the public and never looked back.

The Citadelle carries all three of those lives inside its walls, and you feel it the moment you walk in. The light through the original windows. The architecture that was never meant to be institutional. The gardens that bloom every spring like they've always belonged to this place, because they have.

This is not a white box gallery. Every room was curated with the same intention the Abraham family brought when they lived here, and that intimacy is still present in every corner of the collection. Art belongs in spaces where people actually breathe, and this building has always known that.

Come spend some time with us. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

What's your favorite spot in the museum? Tell us in the comments.

thecitadelle.org

05/27/2026

Drew Lindse Puentes is 19 years old, studies painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design, and already has a piece hanging in the United States Capitol Building. That last part bears repeating.

He won the Congressional Art Competition, a national competition open to high school students across the country, and his work was selected to be exhibited in Washington. For a kid who grew up on a ranch in the Texas Panhandle, that's a long way from the open land and livestock that shaped everything he knows about making art.

His subject matter is western life. As he puts it, "The moments I paint aren't an idea of the West, it's something I've been a part of my entire life."

Western imagery in art and media has a long history of turning cowboy culture into something theatrical. Drew pushes against that. He describes his goal plainly: "My goal is not to idealize the West, but to present it as something still alive, resilient and authentic."

Throughout high school he earned state recognition for four separate pieces and was awarded in regional and national exhibitions, including the "I Am Texas" competition, which placed one of his works at the Bryan Museum of Art in Galveston. The Congressional Art Competition win came on top of all of that.

The Citadelle has followed Drew's work and we are proud to call him one of our own. He's exactly the kind of artist this region produces when young people are given access to instruction, encouragement, and the space to develop a point of view. We sponsored him to attend the Chelsie Nicole Murfee portrait workshop here at the museum this June, and we cannot wait to see what comes next.

A few spots remain in the Chelsie Nicole Murfee portrait drawing workshop this June.

If you've been thinking about it, now is the time. bit.ly/Citadelle_PortraitDrawing

05/26/2026

Hi friends, we’d love to personally invite you to a special convening at The Citadelle on 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟮 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟱–𝟳 𝗣𝗠 with leadership from the 𝗦𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗵𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

As The Citadelle begins shaping a significant long-term partnership with the Smithsonian, we are gathering community voices to help imagine the future of rural cultural leadership, both for Canadian and for the evolving vision of The Citadelle Art Museum.

We would be honored to welcome you into the conversation as we explore how arts, history, education, and the power of our rural community can meaningfully intersect in the years ahead. This will be the first of several meaningful gatherings and we want to welcome them in a wonderful way.

It’s free to attend and we will have light refreshments. Please let us know you’re coming! RSVP to [email protected]

Join us on June 2 from 5-7PM for a community conversation with Smithsonian Institution leadership on the future of rural cultural leadership.

05/25/2026

Today's a day to pause and honor the incredible men and women who gave everything for our freedom.

We're forever thankful.

Wishing everyone a peaceful and reflective Memorial Day.

05/22/2026

What a year!

The Roadshow has been all over the Panhandle and every single stop reminded us why we do this. Symbolism, color theory, patterns, mixed media and kids who showed up ready to make something. Watching that happen, week after week, never gets old.

To every teacher who carved out time for us and every student who picked up a brush or a pencil or a piece of who-knows-what and made it into something, thank you! This year was a really good one.

The Roadshow takes a summer break but the museum stays open, and Art Camp is right around the corner for incoming 1st through 6th graders. Details at thecitadelle.org/events.

Come see us this summer. The doors are open.
Open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
thecitadelle.org

05/22/2026

Summer goes fast and the calendar fills up faster!

Art Camp at The Citadelle is three mornings of art projects, fun techniques, and happy kids.

Incoming 1st through 6th graders, June 23–25, 9 a.m. to noon, wrapping up Thursday with a family picnic.

$60 for all three days or $25 for a single day.

Snag a spot before they're gone. thecitadelle.org/events | 806.323.8899

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05/21/2026

An Exclusive Smithsonian Opportunity for Canadian ISD Teachers!

Canadian ISD teachers of all grade levels and all disciplines are invited to a free, exciting professional development opportunity hosted by The Smithsonian at The Citadelle Art Museum on the morning of June 2.

We are thrilled to welcome Andy Mink and the Smithsonian Rural Initiatives team for a special presentation designed exclusively for Canadian ISD educators. The Smithsonian team will share more about their national work to bring the Smithsonian’s extraordinary collections, resources, expertise, and educational opportunities to educators in underserved rural communities, celebrating a new partnership with The Citadelle.

This is a unique chance for our teachers to connect directly with Smithsonian leadership, explore new ideas for classroom engagement, and learn how national their museum resources alongside The Citadelle’s partnership can support learning across all subject areas.

This presentation is open exclusively to Canadian ISD educators, and PD hours will be provided for all participants. Join us for Breakfast and Brown Bag coffee before the presentation begins.

We love our Wildcat teachers! Come be part of this new experience. Only in Canadian. We hope you will join us for this special opportunity.

All you need to do is register here.